A fierce clash between Trinamool and BJP supporters broke out at a school in Nandigram block 1 at Nandigram in East Midnapore during the cooperative election on Sunday for the Tamluk Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank Limited.

The cooperative bank is spread across 12 blocks across East Midnapore district.

The clash left 25 people injured, five of whom had to be hospitalised.

Sources in the cooperative society said that the election involved 69 seats with an electorate of 55,471, including eight seats in Nandigram. Kanchannagar Bidya Bhawan High School, the flashpoint of the clash, served as a polling booth for one of these seats, where 5,921 voters were expected to cast their votes.

There was tension in the area from the morning with both Trinamool and the BJP both alleged rigging and intimidation of voters.

The situation spiralled into violence when BJP Tamluk district organisational president Meghnad Pal arrived at the polling venue.

Pal worked as the election agent of Suvendu Adhikari in the 2021 Assembly elections, where Adhikari defeated TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee by a water-thin margin.

TMC supporters reportedly obstructed Pal’s entry, claiming he was not a registered voter and thus not authorised to access the premises.

Police and local authorities intervened to restore order. Voting continued under heightened security as tensions lingered.

“Trinamool supporters were threatening the voters and stopping them from going to the booth to cast their franchise. I had this information and so I went to the school (to see things personally). However, the TMC supporters threatened me and stopped me from going there,” Pal said.

An altercation soon escalated into a full-blown clash, with supporters from both sides using bamboo sticks and rods. The violence further intensified as crude bombs were reportedly hurled.

“The BJP was trying to intimidate our voters and our supporters protested against it. They know that they will lose the election and so they are doing all this,” Trinamool’s Nandigram block 1 president, Bappaditya Nag, said.

This election happened after six years and for the first time after Adhikari switched over to BJP from the TMC in 2020.

There was no election in 2013 and 2018 as the cooperative bank was controlled by the TMC since 2009. There was no contest in all the seats.

However, with Adhikari joining the BJP, the stock of the saffron camp has risen in Nandigram in the past four years. Nandigram is known to be Adhikari’s stronghold. This is why the BJP’s political battles with Trinamool have also grown in the area.